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"New Work" by King, Hicks and Heft
 | | One of Louise King's clay horses. |
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The Washington Art Association's latest exhibit, titled "New Work," showcases the talents of Louise King, Stephen Hicks, and Carol Heft. The show will open on Saturday, May 25 with a reception from 3-5 p.m., and will be on view through June 16.
"Born in New York City before WWII, I must have fallen in love with the first horse that crossed my path. Police horse? Horse pulling a milk wagon? A pony in Central Park? Or, could it have been my wildly, glassy-eyed blood bay rocking horse with its real horsehair mane and tail?" Thus begins artist Louise King's life-long passion for capturing this wonderful animal's seductive powers in clay. Her approach to clay? "Like the optimistic child in the joke, there must be a horse in there somewhere."
Building an average of one hundred horses a year "from the ground up, there is something imagined, something dreamt, something seen out of the corner of the mind's eye." This Washington resident earned her BA from the New School for Social Research in 1961. Working from her studio at the Old Red Mill in Bridgewater, Ms. King has exhibited throughout the region.
Manhattan resident Stephen Hicks received his MFA from Yale University School of Art, and was awarded the Ely Harwood Schless Memorial Prize for achievement in painting in 1995. Among the extensive list of venues where Mr. Hicks' work has been exhibited are the Bowery Gallery, Washington Square East, and First Street Gallery in NYC; John Pence in San Francisco; and the Parrish Art Museum in Southhampton, NY.
Initially, the artist conceives most of his paintings as portraits, albeit "portraits of cars, intersections, drive-in screens, bridges, trees and buildings." Often wondering if he is a "landscape painter trapped in the city," Stephen Hicks loves the challenges posed by painting outside. "The bugs, heat, wind and changing light is a wonderful counterbalance to working in the studio."
For New York City and Bethlehem, PA resident Carol Heft, a painting typically begins with a "few lines erased, redrawn, scrubbed away, put back, and changed until a composition emerges." Taking her cues from the painting means "experiencing the canvas as a world with its own structure, rules, and parameters." The artist's work has been widely exhibited and has a place in many private collections.
With a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design and an M.Ed. from Hunter College, Ms. Heft is a lecturer on drawing at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. In speaking on the process of her work, Ms. Heft states, " Sometimes it is clear to me from the start what is called for in a particular painting or drawing. Other times, I don't know until much later or, at the last minute. I've learned to trust the process."
The Washington Art Association is located in Bryan Memorial Plaza in Washington Depot. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday from 2-5 p.m.; for more info call 860-868-2878.
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